Ann-alog, a Pixel Remix, where Ann Torrence blogs about photographing for a book on U.S. Highway 89, the greatest road trip route in America. Photography tips, locations, trip reports, and real life.

Proof of my proof for my business cards.

The business cards should be here in about a week, coincidental to my last week of full-time wage work.

If I'm not careful, it could all become work, and that wouldn't be fun at all.

One thing I find terribly fun is a fireworks display. For reasons I still haven't completely acclimated to, in Utah the fireworks are usually much better for Pioneer (Pie and beer?) Day than the 4th of July. And seeing as how Pioneer Day is today, a Sunday, some fireworks were yesterday and some will be tomorrow, a state holiday. Last night we walked to a school parking lot near the U's stadium to watch the fireworks that followed the pro soccer match. We stood at the back of the lot, next to an empty, weedy field where we had a clean line of sight, beside a school bus that blocked some of the school's security lighting. While we waited, a 4 or 5 point mule deer stepped into the light, followed by a doe and another buck. They didn't freak out at the fireworks, just moved off into the dark. Wildlife in our neighborhood isn't that strange - we had a doe and fawn on our street a couple days ago. And rabbits twice this season. But more frequent this summer than ever before, I don't remember anything quite this bold.

A dash through the first of three pools

Lafferty Creek meets the Nahanni in a broad and completely dry delta system. We hiked up the stream bed until we reached a narrow group of almost slot canyons with water so deep in places we couldn't touch bottom. My camera didn't go any further, but I did, to a pool with a natural slide and another where you could jump in from above and make a big splash. We started the hike before lunch and we were hot when we got to the "Chasm of Chills" but we weren't hot walking back to camp in the heat of the day.

That afternoon, when we had some downtime, R and I sought shade up the streambed, a place to be still and quiet. I looked down and then up and saw a wolf. It saw us, contemplated and then loped off, not afraid but not all that interested in us either.

Downriver from painted face mountain camp

We woke to a fog that slowly lifted as our party fished, breakfasted and readied for a hike up canyon to look at fossils in the rocks.

The fog and the angle of the sun combined to create a hundred moods in about 10 minutes. I'm sure I amused the river guides washing up the breakfast dishes as I ran across the cobbles with all my gear to get the next shot.

Above the Gate of the Nahanni

If you can imagine the foreground right wall descending to river level, that's where we camped our fourth night on the trip. It was Canada Day, July 1, so we celebrated with temporary maple leaf tattoos and a hike up to the overlook. Scramble was more like it, a scree slope with almost enough trees to grab onto and pull oneself upward. About 900 ft from river level. The Canadians are bi-measurable, and we worked in both metric and English all the time.

The Nahanni drainage is composed of four main canyons, each with its own character, like Third Canyon here. In between are wide expanses of country, a place where a person can breathe deeply, even if summer is short. The compressed calendar is made up by sheer quantity of light - it never got dark in our tent, not once at any hour of the night. Some people can't sleep. I couldn't sleep for the excitement of a four hour sunset that blended right into sunrise.

Sluice Box slo-mo

Above Virgina Falls, the Nahanni flows swiftly but without much whitewater until it widens out briefly, as if gathering forces for what's ahead. Here is where the float planes touch down, and the gear is transferred via a 1.2 km portage down to the base of the falls. Within meters of the canoe dock, the river enters the "Sluice box" as it narrows into the canyon defining the falls.

Yes, those are full sized logs. We watched one bob around like a cork in an eddy. Because we were on the 12 day trip, we spent 2 nights at the top of the falls in a camp elevated on boardwalks to preserve the fragile moss and muck plant life.

Extended exposure achieved while throwing all my weight and strength onto the tripod in a huge down-canyon wind. I am pleased it worked out. And I did end up using almost every piece of photo gear I brought, and it all came home intact. More or less. My shutter/mirror complex seized up on the 11th day (probably cumulative dust). It happened right after I made the last image on my shooting list, so I took it as a sign to take the rest of the day off and enjoy the moment. That evening, I checked for a miraculous cure - it had come unstuck on its own and has been functioning fine ever since. And I did not turn it into a dramarama, in the moment.

Virginia Falls on the South Nahanni River

The postcard shot of the falls, taken at the portage end point, just before launching. 3 plane loads of gear and passengers about to be stuffed into 3 little rafts.

The park literature says the falls are 90m high, which is a lot, twice as high as Niagara Falls. I like how the water and light splits around Mason Rock, one of the few features NOT named for a person whose trip down river ended in disaster.